


Everyone Here Smells Like a (Gym)Rat

by c0cunt



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Annie and Reiner are cousins, Armin Arlert & Eren Yeager Are Best Friends, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, annie and bertolt are super protective of reiner, wingman eren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-23 00:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6099361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0cunt/pseuds/c0cunt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin may have bitten off a bit more than he could chew, when he decided to ask Reiner Braun out.  Of course, he'll have to be "approved" by Annie and Bertholdt.<br/>Currently discontinued</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> okayokay, so I've had this idea swirling around in my head.  
> It's going to be a series of oneshots in the same universe, focusing on this pairing, 'cause maaaaaan do I have some IDEAS bruh.
> 
> Updates for this will be sporadic at best, nonexistent at worst. Apologies in advanced!

  Eren couldn’t understand why Armin wanted to go to their university’s campus gym with him.  He’d never expressed any desire to be there, especially after their campus tour when they were just wee little freshmen, and a trio of Norse gods had crossed their path, the one as wide as a brick house had knocked into Armin.  Of course, he had apologized profusely, but Armin didn’t seem to want to ever come back to the campus gym after that.  Whenever Eren would say he was on the way to the gym, Armin’s head would shoot up from whatever book it was in, looking wary and indecisive, before returning to his studies. But, earlier today, when Eren had mentioned that he would be going to the gym later, Armin had looked up at him and said (in a very forced casual voice) “I think I’ll go with you”.

  And, well, it was later now, and here Eren was with Armin nervously following behind him, and Eren was still trying to prod the reason out of Armin.  “C’mon Mini, you never hide anything from me, but you won’t tell me why you want to go to the gym,” Eren said with a small whine, walking backwards after he had swiped his school ID card and gone through the turnstile to enter gym’s hallway, facing Armin with a pout.  Armin didn’t look at him as he fumbled for his own ID card, stuttering out “W-well, I just felt like it!  There doesn’t have to be a reason behind my motivation, Eren.”

  Eren couldn’t stop his eyes from rolling into the next century at that.  “No reason my ass!  You’ve never done anything without a reason, and you’re a terrible liar about that,” Eren shrugged as Armin...Wait a second, was Armin _blushing_ ?  Oh man, this had to be good.  Eren crowded into Armin’s personal space as he whispered “You’re _blushing_ , so that means there’s definitely a very important reason why you’re here, but you won’t tell me.”  That made Armin just blush an even brighter red as he mumbled out his disagreement, but a thought had occurred to Eren.  “Wait a Miltank minute, you need me as your wingman don’t you?”  Eren asked with undisguised glee, clapping his hands with a grin as Armin sputtered out even more guilty denials.  Eren ignored them, instead clapping his arm around Armin’s shoulders as he steered his best friend towards the locker room.

  “Hmm, now who is Armin Arlert’s type of person…”  Eren trailed off, not allowing Armin to wiggle out of his grasp as he mused aloud.  “Someone intelligent, definitely.  Someone with pretty eyes, definitely.  You’re always a sucker for pretty eyes,” Eren let go of Armin’s shoulder, leaning against one of the lockers as he mentally went over some of the people he knew to frequent the gym, none of whom seemed to fit his idea of who Armin would go for.  “Now the major question is, are they a dude, a chick, or something else?  Wouldn’t wanna watch the same shitstorm that Mika brewed up back in high school accidentally happen, when you ask them out,” He laughed, nudging Armin (who had been hopping into a pair of tight leggings) off-balance.  Armin frowned at his best friend, and sighed as he continued to babble on about exactly who Armin would need a wingman for.  (Eren was now going on about hairstyle and hair color, and Armin just wanted him to shut up for two seconds.)

  Rubbing his temples to stop the oncoming headache that was brewing, Armin grumbled “If you can shut your mouth for two minutes, I’ll point out who it is, okay?”  Eren’s mouth snapped shut with an audible _clack_ , and he nodded rapidly.  Armin sighed into the blessed silence, before cautiously heading out onto the gym floor, with Eren close on his heels.  The dual leveled gym before them was filled with equipment, and the second floor (full of cycling machines and treadmills) was packed with students jockeying for the ‘good’ machines.  The first floor, however, wasn’t as packed, and Armin didn’t even glance in the direction of the stairs.  Which narrowed it down to several different people, which Eren immediately jumped on (mentally, of course).

  There was the same trio of Norse gods, as well as five other students, and Eren could pick out their friend Marco from among the other students hanging around.  Of course, it had to be Marco!  Marco’s plenty intelligent, he has a very _very_ nice body (Eren could vouch for that, after having spent several different nights working out with him), and was sweeter than any sugar Eren had ever tried.  Excitedly, and completely forgetting the promise Armin had made in the locker room, Eren turned to him, about to ask why he hadn’t just gone and asked Marco by himself, only to realize that Armin wasn’t looking in Marco’s direction.  No, he was discreetly looking at the corner where the same three Norse gods from their orientation tour were working out together.

  Well, Eren knew they weren’t Norse gods, obviously, but the name sort of stuck for the three of them, even after Eren learned their names.  Reiner Braun, the brick house of a man with short blond hair, an easy grin, and a laidback attitude; his cousin Annie Leonhardt who could probably snap him in half with very little effort if she wanted to, and a resting bitchface that rivaled that of Professor Ackerman’s; and their friend Bertholdt Hoover, who probably lost half his weight in sweat when stressed, but was generally a kind and soft spoken man as far as Eren had learned.  Together, they were intimidating exercise gods, but separately (and with Annie more relaxed) they were alright.  Eren had even taken to running with Annie, when her other two friends were unavailable.  And apparently one of them had caught Armin’s eye enough to get him out of his comfort zone and into the gym.  As casually as he could, Eren pretended to putz with one of the barbell setups, and whispered to Armin, “So, which Norse god are you interested in?”

  Armin had apparently not been expecting that, as he jumped about a foot in the air and squeaked, and no matter how hard Eren tried, he couldn’t hold back his laughter at that.  Armin frowned even more before he snapped “You weren’t quiet for two minutes, so I’m not telling,” like a petulant child.  Eren frowned at that, but instead of arguing, he decided it was best to just go and do his workout, Armin trailing behind him (sometimes even trying to mimic Eren, bless his heart).  After an hour had passed of mostly silence, Armin let out a loud, long sigh, Eren twisting slightly to see what he was looking at.  The Norse trio were all heading out the gym door, Reiner joking and laughing with the other two who were marginally less sweaty and much more quiet.  Eren put the barbell he was lifting down, and wiggled his eyebrows at Armin suggestively.

  “Gonna go chase after them?” He asked with a leer, and Armin seriously looked like he was about to hit Eren.  Or, well, it could’ve been from how shaky his arms were from all the extra exertion he was putting them through, but Eren was about 85% sure his best friend wanted to hit him.  But after an internal debate, Armin seemed to choose that hitting him wasn’t the best course of action.  Instead, he just shook his head and mumbled something about them being done here, which was just about right on time for Eren’s exercise schedule.  Sighing slightly, he led the way back to the locker room, happy to at least have gotten in a nice workout.

 

* * *

  And so it went on for about two weeks, Armin accompanying Eren to the gym for his normal workouts.  Armin still refusing to tell Eren who he was interested in, so Eren was left to make assumptions.  So, Eren assumed that Armin was interested in Annie; he could see that pairing potentially working.  They were both terrifying blondes (in their own ways), and Eren knew that Annie wasn’t just beautiful and strong from when their running conversations eventually drifted to talking about grades.  Which is how Eren decided that today he would work out much closer to them than he had been, with Armin tagging along close at hand.  Maybe he could push Armin into finally asking her out, instead of sneakily watching them and barely working out at all.

  Armin seemed to figure out what Eren had planned, as Eren bypassed the group of machines and barbells that were clustered on the far side of the gym where they usually stayed, and led them both much closer to the trio.  He let out a small whine of protest, that he cut off when Eren was obviously not listening.  With an anxious breath, Armin hurried closely after Eren, who waved cheerfully at Annie and her friends before starting his workout.  After fiddling with some equipment anxiously, Armin finally swallowed his nerves and muttered to Eren “Okay, I’m going to ask him out.”

  Eren nearly dropped the weights he was holding, mouth hanging open in surprise.  “He?!”  Eren squawked, probably gaining the attention of those in the immediate area, but he was more baffled than anything else.  Eren hadn’t known that Armin was attracted to guys, but with the sharp look Armin gave him, it was best if he didn’t question it right now.  “Yes, he,” Armin snapped, and Eren put down the weights he was holding to raise his hands in surrender.  Now wasn’t the time to question his friends romantic interests, except to ask “So, which one?”

  Armin didn’t answer again, which frustrated Eren to no end, and the pair of them turned slightly to watch the godlike trio exercise.  Armin felt a curl of excitement as Annie announced that she was going to go running, and Bertholdt mumbled that he would join her.  Yes!  Reiner was rarely ever alone in the gym, and with his two friends now heading upstairs, Armin could finally ask him out.  Before he could talk himself out of it, Armin picked his way carefully over to Reiner, his heart beating much faster than it really should be.

“H-hi Reiner,”  Armin said, doing his best (and failing) to keep himself from stuttering with nerves.  Reiner looked up from where he had been staring at the floor, silently mouthing numbers to himself as he did bicep curls, shooting a small smile at Armin.  “Hey there...Armin, right?  Weren’t we in the same chemistry class last semester?”  He asked, putting the barbell he was using down and turning  his full attention to Armin, who nodded rapidly.  Armin opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, apparently unable to say what he wanted.  “Did you...Need some help?”  Reiner prompted, raising his eyebrows slightly.  He didn’t remember Armin ever having trouble speaking in the class they had shared, and he felt a little lost when Armin shook his head roughly.

  “I, uhm, y’see, I…”  Armin stuttered, fidgeting nervously.  Okay, this was definitely not how Armin had imagined asking him out, and he couldn’t get himself to just _stop stuttering_ .  Eren watched from a distance for a few minutes, silently encouraging Armin to get his goddamn words out.  And _Armin_ was the one who communicated better out of the pair?  Eren felt the tiniest bit smug that no, Armin wasn’t better at this, before finally stepping in as Armin buried his now bright-red face in his hands and Reiner looked more concerned with each passing second.

  “Oh my god Armin, spit it out!”  Eren said loudly, drawing Reiner’s attention away from his friend.  Shaking his head, Eren pinched the bridge of his nose, making a show of how annoyed he was with Armin.  “Okay, Reiner, look, since Armin can’t get his words out, he wanted to ask you on a date, if you’re into that sort of thing.”  Eren huffed, and jokingly added “See, it isn’t that hard, ‘min!”  If Armin’s face could get any redder, it probably would have, but the bright red blush that crawled up onto Reiner’s face was unexpected.  Almost as unexpected as Annie and Bertholdt seeming to materialize out of nowhere and stand behind Reiner, their faces matching stony looks that made Eren more than a little nervous.

  “Coffee!”  Armin squeaked loudly, as Reiner looked back at him, their blushing faces almost matching at this point.  “Coffee!  Would you like t-to go get coffee with me sometime?”  Armin’s voice broke slightly on ‘me’, and it was a wonder he hadn’t run away with how horribly this whole thing seemed to have gone.  Annie and Bertholdt looked just about ready to drag him out of the gym and beat the snot out of him, and he definitely wanted to keep his bones intact.  But he wasn’t backing down, not today, even as he took a small step back.  Annie did look pretty vicious at the best of times...

  “I-I…” Reiner started, eyes wide in surprise.  He never would’ve thought the small blond he had worked with maybe twice from chemistry would be interested, even if he had flirted mercilessly when they were thrown together in groups.  “...When?”  He finally croaked out, and he could almost feel the surprise coming from his friends, but Armin’s happily sparkling blue eyes were totally worth it.  

  “H-how does tomorrow at 8am sound?”  Armin asked hopefully.  Reiner nodded a few times, before asking “Wanna meet in front of the gym?”  Armin nodded rapidly, grinning from ear to ear.  Fuck yes!!!  Eren was doing a little victory dance behind Reiner’s back (probably more excited about having his exercise time back to himself than anything else), but even as Armin and Reiner exchanged phone numbers, Annie and Bertholdt barely let up the intense looks on their faces.  “So...See you tomorrow morning?” Armin tried to say, but it ended up sounding like a question.  Reiner nodded a few times, a wide smile on his face as he waved at Armin, who was beating a hasty retreat.

  When Armin was close enough, Eren jumped up and thumped him on the back, hard enough to knock his breath out.  “That was absolutely terrible, ‘min, you should go and ask him again,” Eren laughed, both of them grinning as Eren dragged his best friend into the locker room.  “At least now I won’t have to babysit you while I do my workouts,” Eren snarked cheekily, Armin elbowing him ferociously, neither of their grins diminishing though.  They were just inside of the locker room when Armin froze, his face having finally turned less red, eyes wide.  “Eren...What do I wear?”  He croaked, and Eren just about lost it.  Armin never was this panicked, and soon enough reason would return to him (hopefully), so Eren didn’t feel too bad about brushing off his question.  It’s not like they were going out for a fancy meal; coffee at 8am warranted sloppy sweats and sleepy eyes, though Eren had a feeling that Armin wouldn’t sleep that well tonight, all wound up worrying about his date.  At least Eren probably wouldn’t be nagged to death to wake up for his 9am class.  Everybody wins this way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annie and Bertholdt have a chat with Armin; Eren has a talk with Reiner.

  They cornered him on his way out of the library, a shock to absolutely no one.  Armin was expecting it, when Bertholdt didn’t show up to their group’s study session, so the only unexpected part about it was that Annie didn’t slam him into the brick wall of the building immediately upon sight.  He had been nervous when he heard Bertholdt shuffling his way (a sound he had grown attentive to, able to pick that particular noise out easily when there was a jumble of other things going on, after several classes sitting next to each other), but it would’ve been silly to run considering how much faster either of them were compared to himself.  When Armin felt the light tap on his shoulder, he turned and smiled at the pair as kindly as he could, at complete odds with the stony looks on both their faces.

  “Can I help you?”  Armin eventually asked, when neither of them spoke up for a few seconds.  

  They shared a glance, Annie huffed slightly to blow her bangs out of her face, and Bertholdt said “So you asked Reiner out.”  Armin nodded, a small smile curling his lips up as he mumbled “Technically, Eren asked for me, but...Yes, I did.”  He couldn’t help a small blush rising on his cheeks as he watched the pair in front of him, Bertholdt’s eyes narrowing slightly.  That caught Armin’s attention, and he couldn’t help a wave of even more nerves swirling in his chest.

  “I...Should I not have?  Were...You thinking about asking him out, Bertholdt?”  Armin asked hesitantly.  Bertholdt and Reiner were best friends like Eren and himself, barely ever separated, but Armin had thought that Bertholdt wasn’t interested in Reiner in that way...Annie stifled a snicker that Bertholdt glared at her for, before shaking his head at Armin’s question.  “We’re just...Concerned, is all.  Reiner is...Well, not my place to say, and we both want what’s best for him.”  Bertholdt said carefully, and even though Armin had told himself he wouldn’t get upset with either of them no matter what their issue with him was, he bristled at the implication of Bertholdt’s words.  Before he could say anything in return, Annie had stepped forward and pinned him with a deadly glare.

  “Listen, ‘cause I’m only going to say this once,” Annie snarled, “If you do anything that may hurt or offend Reiner in any way…”  She trailed off, her eyes glinting in a very unsettling way, before she simply stated “You’ll regret it.”  Annie then smiled (or, at least Armin thought it was supposed to be a smile), and turned to leave.  Without thinking, Armin reached out and tapped at her shoulder, both of them freezing in surprise.  Annie slowly turned back to face him, the normally impassive look on her face twitching slowly towards irritation.  Bertholdt fidgeted from foot to foot, obviously torn between getting between the two blondes and just leaving Armin to get beaten to a pulp.  Armin literally and figuratively swallowed down his fear, his outstretched arm falling to hold his other elbow.

  “I’m not going to hurt Reiner, intentionally at least,” Armin said, biting his lip in thought before adding “Unintentionally, I can’t make any promises, but I asked him out because I genuinely  _ like _ him.  He’s loud, funny, intelligent, and seems to care about a lot of different things, and that’s just what I know from the few times we’ve talked before...And I want to learn more about who he is.  I can understand that you’d both be concerned, as his close friends, but…”  Armin trailed off, unsure of where to go with what he had been saying.  Bertholdt had stopped fidgeting, and looked like he was considering Armin’s words, but Annie’s face was as impassive as ever.  She turned on her heel and walked away quickly, as Bertholdt lingered, looking as if he was unsure about if he wanted to say something or not.  After a few seconds of silent indecision, he straightened up and looked down at Armin as he spoke.

  “I trust him to know what he wants, but we’re both just concerned about his wellbeing.  Don’t make us have a reason to be concerned,” Bertholdt said, just as much a warning as it was a request, before walking quickly after Annie.  

  Armin didn’t have any sort of response to that, but he mulled over the entire interaction on his way back to his dorm room.  It wasn’t strange to be concerned about a friend; Armin knew from first hand experience that Eren would probably beat the shit out of anyone who dared to ask him out as a prank nowadays, especially after the fiasco in high school...Maybe Annie and Bertholdt had simply assumed that Armin was asking as a prank?  It didn’t seem likely to Armin, but what else could they’ve meant about being concerned about Reiner going out with him?

 

* * *

  
  


  Eren was on a bit of a mission.  Like, one of those secret spy missions, that he wouldn’t be telling Armin (or even Mikasa, at least most likely) about.  Especially since the super secret mission included telling Reiner that if hurt Armin, Eren would definitely make sure Reiner regretted that.  Which, if Eren was going to be honest with himself, is probably what had made all of Armin’s last few dates go sourly or not happen at all...Well, no, that probably wasn’t it.  They just weren’t good enough for Armin!  Eren nodded to himself as he searched the campus for Reiner.  He probably wasn’t still at the gym, and Armin’s study group was at the library right now (so Eren, on principle of this super secret mission, couldn’t go there), so...Eren was going to try the campus coffee shop.  Plus, he also really needed some coffee, if he was going to write this essay for his 9am class.  He probably should’ve started that damn essay a week ago when it was assigned, but hindsight was 20/20 after all.

  The coffee shop was small, which made many just make a pit stop there before heading off to a larger location (like the library) to study or write.  There were a few small tables pushed along the side of the shop, where students engaged in combat over the limited outlet space available.  Eren was still on the line when he casually looked around, and spotted Reiner in the corner, head bent low over a textbook, scribbling notes furiously into a spiral bound notebook, headphones on, empty cups of coffee littering the table.  Target sighted.  Eren was glad that a plain coffee took less than two minutes to order and get, trying to not look suspicious as he kept looking to make sure Reiner hadn’t left yet, before making a beeline over to his table.

  “Hey Reiner,” Eren said casually, tapping the table near his book just in case he couldn’t hear him over the music.  Reiner looked up, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration that smoothed out almost immediately, an easy grin appearing as soon as he realized who was standing over him.

  “Hey, Eren, sup?”  Reiner asked, knocking his headphones off his head and gesturing to the seat across from him.  “I’m actually really glad you showed up,” Reiner added as he stacked the empty cups on the table and swept them away from the far side of the table.  Eren sat down heavily, nearly sloshing his coffee out onto the table, but not really making himself comfortable like Reiner was.

  “Just saw you sittin here, and I just...Wanted to talk,” Eren said innocently, but the look on his face was more like someone getting ready to fight.  Which, with Eren, it was highly likely he was expecting to get into a fist fight, but Reiner seemed to be ignoring the fighting vibes that Eren was casually throwing off.  Reiner nodded rapidly as he closed his book, giving Eren his full attention.

  “If this is about Armin asking me out...Well, I’m glad you got me here, I kinda wanted to talk about that myself,” Reiner said sheepishly, fiddling with his currently half-full cup of coffee.

  “If you hurt Mini-” Eren started, anger bubbling over.

  “I wanted to know if you had any advice?  I really like him, and I don’t wanna hurt him at all...It’s been a long while since I’ve been on any sort of date, and I don’t want it to turn out shitty…And, y’know, you’re his best friend, you know him a lot better than I do…”  Reiner trailed off, a weird mix of placating and anxious clear in his tone of voice.  Eren hadn’t ever heard Reiner anxious before, and sat up a bit straighter at that.  He’d never had one of Armin’s potential datemates come to him asking for advice, and even if Reiner hadn’t actually sought him out...The intent was still there, at least in Eren’s mind.  There was just one little snag in Reiner’s thought process...

  With a loud sigh, Eren dragged a hand down his face as he muttered “I’m too ace for this shit.”  Reiner had attempted to take a sip not even half a second before Eren spoke just loudly enough to be heard, making him choke and spit his coffee straight back into his cup.  Eren let out a loud cackling laugh at that, not even the least bit sorry as Reiner coughed and spluttered.  “You really want advice from me?”  Eren asked once Reiner had stop sounding like he was about to die.  Reiner nodded enthusiastically, and Eren gestured him to lean forward, whispering tips and advice just low enough for Reiner to hear.


End file.
